Goodbye Asia and Europe - Hello United States!

Sorry it's been a few days since I was able to write, I have been focused on getting done with my demobilization and internet here is sorta sparce. In fact I had better access to it in Afghanistan - strange.

We left Manas on time, with a very full plane. In fact the entire "first class" section of seats were filled with bags. They looked nice all buckeled in for the flight. I was on the baggage detail to load the plane and we filled the front and back of the 757 completely down below. The flight attendants had never seen anyone have to put bags up in seats. Yeah, we are special!

The flight was LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGgg. I think it ended up being 23 hours total, including air and ground time. We did get to leave the plane in Ireland for a couple beers, and again in Maine on our last fuel stop, but they made us stay on in Turkey. I think that was because we landed in some farmer's field and there really wasn't a terminal. I am exaggerating of course, but it was a tiny little airport. I mentioned we stopped in Maine - we were supposed to stop in Canada but we were re-routed at some point. It was nice though as the local VFW had about 30 people out to greet the plane and they were all in rows clapping for us as we left the plane. Meant a lot to actually drag people out to the airport like that. Steve is from Maine so he called his brother who then came out to the airport! So, he got an unplanned mini family reunion out of the deal!

It was SO great to be back on US soil. I had forgotten how nice it is to go someplace where they speak your language without an accent, and the food is what you grew up with and they take your money without having to do some sorta mental conversion.

We took off from Maine and had a short flight down to Norfolk where the group family and friends that had come to see us were setup along the tarmac under a big tent. It was dark when we landed, but it was just as you have seen before....just a long row of tired people trudging towards the hanger to get back to life. Spirits were high, but its hard to be jumping for joy when you have been up 30 hours!

We went into a big warehouse and they inspected our weapons and took them from us. I somehow ended up in the slow line, typical for me, but eventually I got done with that, and headed over to the admin section where they gave us some paperwork and a key to our rooms. It was nice to just walk around without a gun.

Kara came out to see me and was waiting in the area where all the people had gathered. It was great to see her and the whole thing seemed to go like a blur. I guess with all that was going on it was just hard to concentrate on anything.

We started our demob the next day and have been doing that since Monday. They said it could take up to 14 days, but we all knew better than that. Basically we jammed the process as best we could and fit ourselves in whenever possible, which made it go a bit faster. I am actually DONE as of today and will be flying out today and will be in St. Louis today! It's almost impossible to believe.

Bob and Steve and I had dinner together last night, our last supper of sorts, it actually felt like any other dinner we have had over the last year. We talked about a lot of the same things we normally discuss as well as some things going forward. I think we will have lunch today before I leave and then that's the last I will see of them for a while. Sad really. I will definately miss those two.

Sometime later this week or early next whenever I can get my life back in order, I will sit down and hammer out some final posts and try to sum all of this up. I haven't quite figured out how to "end" this yet, it has become a big part of my stress relief. Much of what I typed, never actually made it here. I would type it, read and re-read and then delete, or paste it somewhere else. It was theraputic to just get some things out. I'd like to say I need to keep this going in my normal life, but honestly, I think my stress level will be low enough that this won't be necessary, and even more honestly, I don't think you want to read about my life!

Thanks for reading, thanks for enjoying and I appreciate you being along with me on my trip.

Gary